Pieńkowski’s work was often inspired by his Polish childhood and experiences as a wartime refugee. His interest in paper cut-outs stemmed from his time in an air raid shelter in Warsaw, where a soldier had kept him amused by cutting newspapers into shapes for him. a b (Greenaway Winner 1971). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 15 July 2012. Rural life on a farm was cut short, however, when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. The family moved to Warsaw, where his mother’s family lived, and his father worked briefly as a bailiff. When Jan was five years old, Jerzy, who had helped organise resistance groups, had to go underground for a year.

A succession of monsters, each more grotesque than the last, jump out at you in this brightly coloured pop-up that's sure to engage any small child. Find out more IBBY Announces Winners of 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Awards". International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Press release 31 March 2008. Jan was one of the great storytellers: an exceptionally talented creator, who was led by what interested him, and who treated children as his equals,” Dow said on Sunday.Pieńkowski was also twice the UK nominee – in 1982 and 2008 – for the international Hans Christian Andersen award, the highest recognition available to creators of children’s books.

animals, including a Gorilla, Tiger and Shark, pop out at you in vibrant colours in that teaches young children about the food chain in this chiling tale. Find out more Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw to a country squire father and a scientist mother. He was three when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, forcing the family to move around Europe before they eventually settled in England in 1946. After leaving university Pieńkowski founded the Gallery Five greeting cards company. He began illustrating children's bo Jan Michel Pieńkowski is a Polish-born British illustrator and author of children's books. He is probably best known for his Meg and Mog books with writer Helen Nicoll and for his pop-up books, including Haunted House (winner of the 1980 Kate Greenaway Medal), Robot, Dinner Time, Good Night and seventeen others. Original artwork, drawings, paintings, silhouettes, ceramics and signed books for sale from Jan Pienkowski and David Walser.

After leaving university Pieńkowski founded the Gallery Five greeting cards company. He began illustrating children's books in his spare time, but soon found the work taking over all his time. He began working with children's author Joan Aiken in 1968; he later won the first of two Kate Greenaway Medals in 1972 for his illustrations for Aiken's The Kingdom Under the Sea. In 1968, Pieńkowski began working with children's author Joan Aiken. He won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal for their 1971 book, The Kingdom Under the Sea and other stories ( Jonathan Cape), eleven "fairy tales from Eastern Europe and Russia" retold by Aiken. [7] That award by the Library Association recognised the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. In retrospect the librarians call it "brilliantly illustrated in a highly original and recognisable silhouette style". [7] One year earlier he had been one of three Greenaway runners up for The Golden Bird ( J. M. Dent, 1970), written by Edith Brill. [8] [a] D. Martin, "Jan Pienkowski", in Douglas Martin, The Telling Line: Essays On Fifteen Contemporary Book Illustrators (Julia MacRae Books, 1989), pp.187–201 He began making silhouettes almost by chance. Early in his career he had done a sample drawing to show a publisher, but, unhappy with the faces, he inked them in, and the drawing was accepted.